Tresnjak gets a friendly welcome in Canada

Former Globe artistic mainstay opens "Titus" at Stratford Festival

Somewhat lost in yesterday's announcement about Des McAnuff's return to La Jolla Playhouse with "Jesus Christ Superstar" was news of a major opening by another locally connected theater artist.

Not just locally connected, actually, but linked to McAnuff as well. Darko Tresnjak has just directed a fresh production of "Titus Andronicus" at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, where McAnuff has been artistic director since he left the Playhouse in 2007 after two stints as its artistic chief.

Tresnjak left the Old Globe Theatre two years ago after reviving the Balboa Park theater's now-thriving Shakespeare festival and becoming the company's resident artistic director. McAnuff and Tresnjak never worked together in San Diego, but Tresnjak did direct a modern-dress version of "Titus" for the Globe in 2006.

For the Stratford staging, set in ancient Rome, Tresnjak also did the set design. Not an easy task, he said in an interview last week. The stage in the theater where the show is going up is like "a runway from hell" - a strip that's 50 feet deep and just 19 feet wide.

"I don't know whether to call it a runway or a tongue," Tresnjak added.

Whatever the terminology, something must have gone right: The production has received mostly admiring reviews.

"It was the kind of opening you want to have every time," Tresnjak acknowledged.

But not long to be savored. Tresnjak had to leave almost immediately for Connecticut, where he is taking up his new job as artistic director of Hartford Stage.